The Lost Wolf
by Icy Cake
Summary: Bisca has always wanted a pet wolf and when the opportunity to finally obtain one came to her in the form of a job request, she was first to take it. Little does she know the wolf is more than just a wolf...


A/N: Welcome to another wolf-Link ends up in another world one-shot story... Please enjoy!

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**The Lost Wolf**

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"'Bout time," greeted a man's gruff voice the moment Bisca Connell opened the door to the Mayor's office. A stout, big-bellied man was seated in an oak chair seemingly too narrow for his wide girth behind an average-sized polished, dark wood desk covered in strewn folders, piles of books and paperwork, and on top of all that, a silver, oval tray of half-eaten food, which the sharpshooter assumed was the man's late lunch considering it was two hours past noon. The Mayor of the small village Dahlias looked to be in his mid-forties, sporting a graying, thinning comb-over atop his large domed head and a wispy black mustache over his thick pink lips. His pudgy, red, rounded face reminded Bisca of a pig with his fat pug nose and large round ears.

His squinty, close-set green eyes watched the sharpshooter like a lewd hawk as she strolled towards his desk, the heels of her tall boots soundly clomping against the hardwood floor. The square office wasn't very big; only twenty strides across diagonally, nor was it fancy. The desk and two chairs and a tall standing Lacrima lamp in the corner were the only furnishings. The walls were plain wooden panels decorated with a few framed certificates and signed scrolls that were written proofs of the Mayor's authority over Dahlias. A worn, dirty brown rug, that might have been red in one point in time, covered the floor, with many dark stains accumulated around the Mayor's desk. One arced, paned-glass window that stretched from ceiling to floor was the only bright thing in the otherwise dismal room, letting in the daylight and a great view overlooking the village upon the hill the Mayor's building and grand house were built on.

The little room stank of grease and body odour and was sweltering compared to the cooler lobby. Mounted to the ceiling was a rapidly spinning fan, its gears noticeably grinding. It hardly did a thing to cool down the mayor seemingly stuck in his office chair. Sweat was beaded on the man's heavy brow and trickling down his double-chins and thick neck, drenching the collar of his white undershirt beneath his dark gray suit speckled with crumbs. Bisca held back the urge to twist her face in disgust at the smells, the lack of courtesy, and the repulsive sight of her client.

"Hello, sir," she returned in false kindness, plastering a fake smile to hide her contempt and discomfort to the foul conditions of the room. She wasn't offered the other seat so she remained standing, arms crossed before her chest, mentally scowling at the pig peering up at her behind what was left of his fried chicken and fries smothered in thick, brown gravy. "I am Bisca Connell from Fairy Tail at your service. I heard you had a slight problem with a wild wolf."

The man didn't even bother to introduce himself. Not that it mattered to the mage since she could clearly see his name on the nameplate partially buried by papers. He was called 'Alder Juvan' but Bisca preferred to call him 'Mr. Piggy'. He snorted and it wasn't just a simple puff out of the nose but a noisy one that ultimately matched his personality to that of a swine. "Didn't you read the description, woman?" he barked, leaning heavily against the backrest of his chair. The wood creaked and looked ready to snap but unfortunately the chair was strong enough to support the portly man's massive weight.

Bisca's trigger fingers twitched at his impatient tone. She was starting to hate the man more and more by the second. She held her breath, silently counted to ten and assured herself that she didn't have to suffer the man's vile presence for too long. All she needed was more details on the wolf in question so she could start the hunt.

"'Slight problem' doesn't come close," Mr. Piggy continued in a brusque manner, running a greasy hand through what remained of his hair. It added an extra shine to his bald head. "This damn mutt is a menace to our village! Over the past week it has been causing nothing but trouble for everyone!"

The mage brought a hand to her chin and looked upon the swine inquisitively. "What sort of problems, sir? You didn't quite specify in your request. I'd like to hear every detail to grasp its behaviour."

The mayor snorted again, his fat face distorted into an angry frown, not at Bisca but at the unseen beast that had tormented his village. "That thing has been stealing our food right off our tables! Sometimes lunch! Sometimes dinner! Somehow that wretch can find its way inside someone's home and snatch away their meal!"

Bisca raised her brow and pursed her lips at that. "Wait. The wolf is _stealing_ food?" That was rather strange yet intriguing. She had obsessively read about wolves at one point in time, (mainly because she had wanted one as a pet to add to her collection of exotic animals but was never successful in obtaining one), and was fully aware that they were top predators. There was plenty of wild game to hunt in the dense woods that surrounded the village at the bottom of the hill. She had seen a lot of wildlife amongst the trees during her two-and-a-half-hour carriage ride to the small village coming from Magnolia Town.

However, wolves were not native to Fiore. Perhaps it was not familiar with the fauna and did not know what to hunt or was either too sick or injured to hunt anything. Or it could have been raised by humans and ended up escaping or getting lost, hence why it was not afraid to venture into the village and come in close contact with the people.

"Yes! Stealing! Were you not listening?" Mr. Piggy grumbled.

Bisca's fingers twitched again. She was tempted to draw out her rifle and pop an exploding bullet right between the man's squinty eyes.

"That beast is breaking into our homes and stealing our dinner! I have sent local hunters after it, but those useless blokes could never find it. 'It vanishes without a trace!' one idiot says. 'It's like a ghost!' another fool claims. Ghosts? Bah! Those morons! Can't do their job right! It's only a goddamn mutt. How can it be so hard to track?" The Mayor was gasping after his little rant and needed a moment to catch his breath. He wiped his sweaty forehead with the sleeve of his suit before leaning forward to pluck a few fries to stuff into his mouth. Noisily chewing, he continued, spitting pieces of his food with every word; "I even tried to poison the bastard. Left pieces of roasted turkey laced with rat poison all around the perimeter of the village but they were left untouched for days."

_Poison?_ _How wickedly cruel._ Bisca's mood darkened. She didn't hate Mr. Piggy; she abhorred him. How she wished for Evergreen's eyes so she could petrify the slob of a man squished in the chair too small for his bulging fat. She was slightly relieved to hear that no other animal suffered a painful death for mistakenly eating the bait. She could assume the poison was easily detected through scent alone.

She started to pace back and forth to avoid having to look at the man's detestable face. "You have mentioned that it _broke_ into people's homes. Through open doors and windows?"

"That was during the first few days since it was first discovered. After that, all windows and doors of every home were locked and yet the wretch was still able to find its way inside some people's homes and sneak around! Somehow it could climb into attics! Even down in basements! Just last night it stole my ham and disappeared down the cellar where I found a goddamn tunnel it had dug through the dirt! Damn that stinking beast! It has stolen from me three times already!"

"How very cunning," she quietly mused of the wolf. She hid her smile under her hand while the Mayor fumed at the comment, his face turning as red as a tomato.

"You better be japing, mage. There is nothing cunning about that foul animal. It is a nuisance and a goddamn pest. It has stolen its last meal. Since no hunter here can find it, I am left with no choice but to resort to paying a mage like you to do this." Mr. Piggy pointed a big fat finger at Bisca and his squinty eyes narrowed even further. "I want that beast's head. And his pelt. I will make a nice fur coat out that grimy thief. Once the wolf is dead, two-hundred seventy thousand Jewels are yours."

_It would take a pack of ten wolves to make a coat that would fit around your bloated stomach and cover your hideous face, _she bitterly thought but instead firmly replied with, "I will see to it immediately." With a small, polite bow of her head, Bisca twisted on her heel and left the pig and his sty.

Not all of her questions were asked but she couldn't stay in that horrid room any longer. She would have to interrogate some of the villagers for clearer answers on the wolf's appearance, whereabouts and most recent sightings. Breathing freely, the sharpshooter sauntered through the short hall and entered the lobby where Romeo was patiently waiting with their belongings. The blonde-haired secretary at the front desk exchanged a kind nod as Bisca passed.

"How'd it go?" Romeo asked, hopping off his chair and slinging his leather sack over his shoulder. He handed Bisca hers.

Not wanting the secretary to overhear anything rude about her Mayor, Bisca answered, "Swell. Very, _very_ swell. I'll tell you more as we head down to the village."

The afternoon sun was a blazing yellow orb in the sky, burning the backs of the two mages as they descended the paved road. After the sharpshooter relayed everything Mr. Piggy had shared with her in regards to their mission, Romeo frowned. "We're not really going to kill it, are we?"

"Of course not. Have you already forgotten why we took this job in the first place? I only made it seem like I agreed so he wouldn't break into an argument. Any minute longer in that room and I would've fainted. We didn't come here to kill anything. That wolf is going to be mine." Bisca was anxious at the thought, unable to hide her gleeful smile. Since she was a young teen, she had always wanted a pet wolf. Most particularly the Polar Wolf with its beautiful snow-white fur and golden eyes. However, that species only thrived in the far north of the arctic country of Iceberg.

Romeo was aware of her desire for obtaining a pet wolf and was the first to suggest this quest to her the instant it was put on the Request Board by Mirajane. The boy, after gaining permission from his father, wanted to join her while Alzack stayed home to watch over Asuka. The mission was the perfect and perhaps the only time ever for Bisca to come across a live wolf in Fiore. She couldn't afford to miss this chance. She only hoped that it didn't belong to anyone since it seemed tamed rather than a wild, aggressive beast. Mr. Piggy failed to mention any attacks on the villagers so the only real harm the wolf has done was startling the people and a few thefts of lunches and dinners.

_Poor hungry little thing,_ she thought sympathetically. She was now more determined to capture it to take care of it herself.

She was stocked up with tranquilizer shots so capturing the animal alive wasn't going to be too hard. Finding it was the main problem.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Bisca and Romeo questioned some of the villagers that were stricken by the thief over the past week including the hunters. North, south, east, west, by the plaza, near the well, at the village gate, up on the hill… every person had a different opinion on where the wolf was last seen. It moved like a shadow, they said, quick, and graceful. The most anyone has seen of it were glimpses of its tail and the wicked shine of its eyes reflecting in the faint light as it ran off with their meal. Some say it was a hulking beast, others say it was larger than the largest dogs in the village, but everyone agrees that it has a big appetite and it was always accompanied with the sound of clinking iron chains.

"When you finally hear it, you know it's too late," said a man who was more frustrated than terrified of the animal unlike some villagers. There was a spreading rumour the wolf would start dragging children off in the middle of the night to be eaten, causing quite a panic among those who believed it. They could also hear howling in the middle of the night; a drawn, lonely sound that chilled the blood of some and evoked fear in others.

"Can it really be a ghost?" Romeo asked skeptically as they took a break out on the patio in front of a café. He sipped his iced tea through a bendy straw, visibly relieved to be in the shade with something cold to drink.

Bisca lightly laughed as she fanned her face with her hat. "Don't be silly. Ghosts can't steal food. It's obvious the wolf was travelling through the village in search of an easy meal. This little guy is rather clever choosing to prowl in the shadows instead of roaming in the light. The best way to find it is to lure it out."

"Using bait?"

"Exactly. We need a good trap, one that isn't obvious for this cunning wolf. From what everyone's told us, it likes to take cooked meat right off the table. I wonder if it lurks in the dark, waiting for the right opportunity to strike…" She stirred her cup of iced coffee and mulled around an idea in her head. "We will wait until dark and set up a table full of food it can't resist and hope it doesn't steal before then. But first, we need the right location."

And there was no other perfect location than Mr. Piggy's manor at the top of the hill. There were only a few sparse trees growing on the mound of earth, making it more open up there than within the village, limiting the shadows for the beast to hide. As well, the mayor was the wolf's favourite target, considering his house was invaded thrice within the past week whereas every other villager was only struck once with thefts. After mustering the willpower to face the swine and his foul stench, Bisca marched into his office and discussed her plan. He reluctantly agreed after much persuasion and promised lies.

By the time Bisca, Romeo and the Mayor were ready, the moon was half-full in the clear, cobalt sky dotted with silvery stars that twinkled and winked. Donning a black hooded cloak to blend into the shadows herself, the sharpshooter was positioned on the manor's sloped rooftop with her silenced sniper rifle ready in her hands. Down on the first floor in the dining room of the two-story building was Romeo, Mr. Piggy, and the man's personal housemaids setting up the dinner table close to an open window. An electric fan was placed inside to blast the savoury aromas out the window and into the light, cool wind blowing by, hoping to attract their furry thief.

Bisca was crouched atop the red-bricked chimney, her keen violet eyes scanning the perimeter of the hill through the magic scope of her rifle. The special (and expensive) attachment made zooming in and out to a desired view a breeze with only a simple thought. It also came equipped with a night vision mode that turned the darkest night as bright as a sunlit day. The leaves of the trees and the blades of grass were both vibrant greens through the scope where they would normally be black and lined with silver from the half-moon's glow within the night.

Around and around, Bisca slowly shifted in circles in search of her wolf like a sentry guarding a castle. She wasn't sure how much time had passed until her legs started to cramp. It felt like hours and still no sign of her new pet. Sighing wearily, she rubbed her tired eyes and set aside her rifle to stretch out her stiff body.

She was in the middle of a yawn when she heard a squeal of pig and startled shrieks followed immediately by loud, angry cursing. Then she heard the rattling of chains of something running swiftly below. Swearing under her breath, Bisca quickly grabbed her rifle and peered through the scope. It took several rapid heartbeats before she spotted the furry tail retreating down the hill, heading towards the woods.

_You're not getting away from me, sneaky little guy! _The sharpshooter licked her lips, took aim, and held her breath. The instant she locked the beast in her sight, she fired her tranquilizer bullet, the sound of the shot dulled by the silencer. Bisca flinched from the heavy recoil and lost sight of her target but she was certain she hit her mark. However, she was unable to find the wolf through her scope. Did it roll down the hill and into the woods or did it manage to reach the forest before the tranquilizer kicked in?

Determined to capture it, Bisca put away her rifle and leapt off the roof, the rushing wind blowing off her black hood. She rolled into her fall, replaced her fallen hat, and sprinted down the hill towards the forest boundary. The light wind made the trees shiver and their shadows dance, forcing the mage to approach more carefully. Her sharp eyes scanned the ground in search of a sleeping wolf.

What she found instead were the eyes of the beast glaring at her through the shadows between the trees, shining silver from the light of the moon. It growled a warning when the mage took a careful step forward, its white teeth viciously bared and its ears flat against its head. It wasn't the size of a hulking beast at all but the size of very large dog. Barely could the animal stand tall and proud as it tried to fight against the tranquilizer's effects. It staggered left and right on all four feet, hardly able to keep its head aloft. Lying not far on the ground was a whole roasted chicken covered in dead leaves and dirt.

Bisca had no need for her weapon. She raised her hands as if surrendering and offered the wolf a friendly smile. "Don't worry, little guy, I'm not here to hurt you," she softly cooed. "Just take a nap and I'll take you to a nice new home where no fat pigs will want to harm you."

The wolf was out before she even finished.

Bisca's smile widened and her young, teenage self was as giddy as ever. "I finally have a wolf!" she whispered in excitement as she skipped over and kneeled beside the slumbering beast. She quickly regained her composure and lightly brushed her hand over the animal's soft fur, loving the wolf already. "I'll take good care of you. I promise."

* * *

"I'm back! And look what I brought home!" Bisca announced cheerfully the moment she stepped up to the front door of her two-storey home. Located on the outskirts of Magnolia Town on the same side as the hill with Fairy Tail, the house was in a convenient place for Bisca and her family. Not only that, the backyard was the wide open wilderness with the river, forest, and mountains not too far away, more than enough space for more than two dozen pet animals, some large and exotic, to freely roam where they could hunt and forage for their own food. It was the perfect place to accommodate all her animals after she married Alzack, much better than the small confines of Fairy Hills.

The front door opened and the greeting she got was the happy squeal of her young daughter. Asuka pounced into Bisca's waiting arms, giggling. "Momma! Welcome back! I missed you!"

Laughing, the mother stood up, carrying Asuka with her. She playfully tugged on the end of her daughter's nose as the brims of their hats brushed against each other's. "I've only been gone for a day."

"It felt like a long time! Daddy missed you too!"

Watching in the doorway was Alzack, sporting a lopsided smile. "Welcome back," he greeted before nodding to the carriage behind his wife. "I take it the mission went well?"

Bisca couldn't hide her grin. "Absolutely." Most of it went well anyway. Mr. Piggy wasn't too happy with the sharpshooter's refusal to kill the village's furry thief, resulting in a heated argument and a cut to her and Romeo's reward. She had stormed out the pig's sty of an office shortly after taking the money out of the man's fat, grubby hands. She had given Romeo the entire payment, seventy-thousand short from the original statement, not really caring for the money. All she wanted out of that mission was the wolf.

"What's in that big box, Momma?" Asuka asked, pointing.

The sharpshooter turned towards the small wooden cart with a pulling handle like a wagon. A white, secured tarp covered the square steel cage that held her prize. "It's our new pet, dear," the mother answered, lifting a loose corner of the tarp for her girl to peek inside. "He's still sleeping but you can play with him later once I get him trained. Okay?"

Asuka was brimming with excitement when she saw the animal. "Oh! A big doggy?"

"Not just a dog. A wolf."

Alzack was peering over their shoulders. "Is it the same kind you've been wanting for years?"

"No. We'll have to move to Iceberg if we want to keep a Polar Wolf." Bisca laughed when her husband made a face. "This one's… a rare one." With greenish-gray fur and odd white patterns upon its head and body that was natural fur and not body paint, the wolf within her cage was one she had never seen before. And she had read every bit of available information on wolves in Earthland. This one could be a new, undocumented species.

It was once owned by someone, obvious by the broken chained shackle clasped around its front right foot and the pair of blue-hooped earrings pierced in both ears. Whoever had owned it last had mistreated the poor thing. Scars adorned its legs and back and three terrible gashes ran down its left flank, week-old wounds left from a larger beast with claws. Before leaving Dahlias that morning, Bisca had cleaned the wounds and the dried blood matting its fur before dressing them in bandages and had given it another dose of tranquilizer for the trip back to Magnolia. It made her wonder if the wolf had been bred and trained to fight in the despicable fighting pits that she had heard about from time to time. The very thought made her seethe with hate for the ones who dared to treat animals so cruelly.

They rounded to the back of the house with Alzack pulling the cart behind him. Lounging around on the field of grass and basking under the mid-morning sun was Bisca's chestnut mare, her orange and black-striped tigress, her brown grizzly bear, her one-humped camel, and her lazy crocodile. A large barn-like building made of concrete and painted red wood was situated nearby which served as shelter for all of Bisca's animals. Attached to the side gate of the barn was her circular training pen that could fit twenty full-grown elephants and was barred by a chain-linked fence. Tall trees grew around and within the pen, providing shade and cover for the isolated animals that Bisca had yet to tame. Birds twittered and sang within the branches, their shrill and chirpy voices pleasant to the ears. Right now the pen was empty but not for long.

After putting Asuka down, Bisca unlocked the gate of the fence and Alzack wheeled their new pet inside. She unfastened the tarp and yanked it off so the mid-morning sun could shine down and warm up the wolf. "Isn't he adorable?" she asked her daughter the moment she picked the little girl up again so she could see. "He was hurt when I found him but he'll get better soon after some food and rest. Apparently, he likes to steal food from pigs."

"_Steal_ from pigs? Not eat them?" Alzack raised a perplexed eyebrow.

"It's a rather funny story. I'll tell you all about it later."

"What's his name?" Asuka asked, staring at the sleeping beast in wonder.

Bisca furrowed her brow in thought but then she came up with a cute idea. "I don't know. Why don't you come up with a name, dear?"

Excited, the girl broadly smiled before gazing up at the clear blue sky and lightly tapping her chin with a finger, pondering. "Hmm… Froggy!"

Her father laughed. "It's a wolf, Asuka. I don't think it'll appreciate being called a frog."

"Then… Um, um, um…" The little girl started to look around and spotted something that caught her eye. "I know! Dragonfly!"

Mother and father both shared a look before chuckling at the same time. "Alright, Dragonfly it is," said Bisca and the girl happily grinned.

"Now that you finally have a wolf," Alzack began, grunting as he helped his wife move the heavy cage off the cart and onto the grass, "what's your next animal on the list?"

"A raptordile."

The dark-haired man balked and gaped at Bisca in horror, nearly dropping his end of the cage. "Seriously? Those things are dangerous!"

Bisca's smile was mischievous. "I know. And so are tigers and bears but I've managed to tame them." When her husband was not convinced, she added with a little laugh, "I'll wait until Asuka's older. Don't worry."

* * *

An enormous winged shadow descended upon him. The next thing he knew, he was falling, tumbling through a twilit sky, unable to discern which way was up or down or where he even was. Flecks of shadows and clouds of reddish-gold and dark purple spun around him, the colours melding together like runny paint. He tried to flail his hands to grab onto something but found his arms not of a man's but of a beast's; paws covered in white fur – the paws of a wolf. His screams were whimpers, his words were growls. He was falling to his doom and there was nothing he could do about it. The wind rushed by him, stinging his eyes and stirring every hair on his body.

Someone was crying out his name. His ears pricked, hearing the familiar voice sounding so faint and distant. He tried to search for the speaker but all he saw were shadows and twilight, spinning and spinning and spinning fast around him. Darkness was swallowing up the light and not before long, he saw nothing.

Then, he suddenly came to a stop. All was quiet, the wind was still. He was lying on his side on solid ground, no longer falling to his death in a realm of shadows and clouds. Whispers tickled his ears, making them twitch. He pried his eyes open only to shut them tight from the blinding light shining above. He groaned in discomfort, the sound coming out deep and rumbling from his throat, and tried to move but found his limbs as heavy as stone. More whispers, louder than before, growing into voices and turning into words with each passing second.

"… coming to."

"Do you think he's wild and dangerous?"

"He is only a pup. So long as he does not feel threatened, he has no reason to bare his fangs."

"Not much he can do inside the pen anyway."

"I overheard the mistress speaking with her mate. The wolf escaped from his previous owner."

"I would too if I was chained up and made to fight."

"What if you were raised knowing only to fight? The thought of escape would never come to you."

"So he could be dangerous…"

"We can only judge when he is awake."

"What was his name again?"

"The little one calls him Dragonfly."

He distinguished five different voices, two females and three males, and many different scents; one recognizably a horse. And there was singing coming from above; the chants and melodies of a few cheery birds. At that moment, he opened his eyes again and blinked at the sun wanting to blind him. He sluggishly moved his head, trying to see where the voices were coming from but everything was blurry.

"Hello? Hello?" someone said meekly in a quiet voice, one of the females.

He blinked a few times before he could finally adjust his sight on his surroundings. He was lying on something soft, plush and white. A metal cage surrounded him, smelling of steel, and he was left out under the sun. However, the door was left wide open, granting him freedom to wander out onto the grass.

His head felt as heavy as a boulder when he tried to lift it. By the gods, what happened to him? Why did he feel so weak and tired?

He wanted to rub his weary face only to remember that he had no hands. _I'm still a wolf. I lost the Master Sword to the endless twilit sky and I fell along with it… Knocked off the shadow palace by some stupid birds. _That was reality and not only a dream. And always was it a disheartening truth whenever he woke up, surrounded by trees and wilderness he did not recognize. _Been days since I found myself in a river in the middle of the forest. Maybe a week now._

Or maybe he really was dreaming this time – dreaming within dreams.

In a daze, he slowly turned his head in the direction of the timid voice and saw five pairs of eyes staring at him from the other side of a tall wiry fence; curious and wary, dark, gold, and green, large and small – all belonging to different animals, some he had never seen before. The one that caught his eye first was the enormous beast that towered over the others. It had gray leathery, wrinkled skin, four stumpy legs as thick as tree-trunks, two large fan-like ears, a pair of huge white tusks that were larger than a boar's and a very long, wrinkled nose that hung down, nearly touching the ground. A chestnut-coloured mare with a shiny black mane and tail stood beside the gray beast and on the other side of the horse stood a four-legged, two-toed creature with a long neck, humped back, droopy lips, and covered in hair the colour of sun-baked sand. There was a large cat perched atop a pile of crates, orange and striped black with a white underbelly, its long tail swaying side to side in anticipation and lying close to the ground almost unseen in the tall grass was a crocodile with smiling jaws full of sharp white teeth.

It was the mare who spoke to him shyly and was the one who feared him wild and dangerous. "Uh, hello? Are you feeling better?" she asked timidly, tilting her head slightly.

He tried to answer but the only sound he made was a grunt. Even his mouth wasn't moving properly. Dry and parched, he wet his mouth, stretched his jaws, and tried again; "Where… am I?"

It was a question he had asked many times over the past week and the answers were always not to his liking:

"_You are in a forest of trees, fanged one. Do you not see?" _an owl once told him on the first day he found himself lost.

"_Faron Woods? Sorry, pal, this forest has no name," _squeaked a squirrel before it had scampered away.

"_The humans call this village 'Dahlias' and the forest 'Vespera'," _purred a cat on the second night when he stumbled upon civilization.

"_Hyrule? Ordon? Never heard of such places. You must be terribly lost, dog," _mocked a crow on the third night.

No matter which animal he had asked, they could not tell him exactly where he was. He was guessing he had somehow landed in a different country since the written language he saw in the village was greatly different from Hylian. And yet the villagers spoke in the same tongue as Hyruleans, making him assume he wasn't too far from Hyrule.

"You have been captured by our mistress and brought to her home; our home. Soon it will be yours as well," replied the giant gray beast in a voice that was bold, loud, and male. Its eyes may be small on its large, broad head but they were sharp and inquisitive, studying the wolf intently; judging and prying at the same time. There was a sense of great wisdom coming from the giant's proud, tall stance.

"Captured?" _How can that be?_ The wolf lowered his head, confused. He closed his eyes and thought deeply on the events that occurred last night. Or was it the day before? The last thing he could remember was that he was hungry and night had fallen. He was heading towards the village to find another easy meal. He hated stealing from the villagers but he had no choice since he didn't have the heart to hunt down innocent prey like a true predator. The very thought of his meal begging for mercy and the taste of their blood in his mouth didn't sit well with his conscience.

There was one villager he didn't mind stealing from however. Fat and overindulging, the mayor who wanted the wolf dead was the beast's favourite target. The mayor's home was where he caught the delicious, mouth-watering aroma of roasted chicken and that was where he went first. However, he had sensed another trap lying in wait. He was right to be suspicious because he had spotted the dark silhouette of a person perched atop the chimney of the roof. Was that person the mistress the giant gray beast spoke of? Another hunter more skilled than the ones who tried to hunt him before?

"Don't worry," assured the mare, her shyness gone. "You're safe here. The mistress will not mistreat you like your previous owner."

"What?" The wolf stared at the horse, more confused than before.

The mare nervously scraped her front hoof in the ground under his gaze, tearing up the grass. "I-I mean, weren't you treated badly? You're scarred and wounded and… you have a chain around your foot."

The wolf glanced down at the heavy iron shackle still bound around his right front leg before looking back at the deep gashes left by the sharp talons of the dreaded Shadow Kargarok. To his surprise, the wounds were covered by clean, white bandages. Once fully healed, they will turn into ugly scars to join the rest that marred his beastly body. They were reminders of all the brutal battles he had survived, fighting against various dark fiends in his cursed form. He turned back to the watching animals who mistook him for an actual wolf. Not just a wolf, a _pet_ wolf. "No, I was… I never had an owner because I am not what you think. I am actually a man."

There were a few perplexed looks coming from the gray giant, horse, and big cat while the crocodile stared blankly.

Meanwhile, the one-humped animal started to laugh, a fluctuating, drawn out _baaaa_ similar to that of a bleating goat, as it bobbed its head. "The tranquilizer is making his head all funny. He believes himself a man!" it said, peeling back its saggy lips to show his grinning yellow teeth.

The other animals soon joined in the laughter; snorting, neighing, and throaty, growly bellows erupted in amusement. The giant gray beast was the only one who didn't find any humour in the other's jape. Instead, it slightly cocked its great head as if intrigued.

The wolf growled in annoyance at the laughing animals. "I speak true. I am not a wolf," he stated firmly once the group has calmed.

"Then I am not a tiger," the striped cat retorted, sarcasm evident in her deep, purring tone. Her green eyes gleamed with playfulness as she gestured to the gray beast with her large paw. "And Arber is not an elephant. We are humans in disguise as well."

"Do not mock me," the wolf shot back, rising quickly to his feet. However, his body still felt heavy and his hind leg stung with pain, resulting in him falling back onto his side within the cage.

"Careful now…" said the mare, showing a little concern. "The tranquilizer has not passed through your system completely."

The wolf wasn't sure what a 'tranquilizer' was but he didn't doubt that it was responsible for his grogginess. It must have also unknowingly knocked him out in the first place. He steadily rose, needing to sit on his haunches as a dizzy spell passed him by. He breathed deeply, catching the scents of his surroundings more clearly. Wherever he was, it smelled completely different from the dense woods by the village of Dahlias. He was in another foreign place, much to his frustration. "Please, answer me this," he began, unable to hide his desperation, "Where exactly am I?"

"I have answered you," said the gray beast the cat had called an elephant and Arber, "You are at your new home."

He snorted in frustration. More useless answers and more misunderstandings. "This is not my home. I cannot stay here."

"Whether you can stay or not is not our decision to make," Arber stated in a firm tone. "If you truly are a man and not a fanged beast, prove it to our mistress. Transform back into a man."

The wolf slowly shook his head before staring down at his paws in dismay. "I cannot. I have lost the ability to do that." Dropped somewhere within the same forest he had landed in, he was hoping. He had searched day and night but to no avail could he find the holy sword of light. The Master Sword was lost. _And I lost my companion and friend as well, the one I promised to help…_

"How can you lose such an ability?" croaked the crocodile, its large jaws snapping with each grunted word. "You lie in being a man."

"I don't think he's lying, Finik," the mare spoke up. She could see the wolf's despair. "Is it not magic that transformed you?"

_They know of magic? _The power of Twilight was like magic, powerful and dark. But it was not evil. Only when misused was the power vile and corrupting.

"I am cursed by Twilight," he stated, "The only way to transform back is to find the sword I lost back in the forest I was found."

"A sword now? My aren't you an interesting one," the one-humped animal remarked, its lower lip quivering.

Arber curled his long nose and tapped the end against his forehead as if thinking. "Is 'Twilight' some sort of spell?"

"Not a spell, a power. Only beings from the Twilight realm possess it and the sword I seek has the power to counter it." It was light versus darkness in the war between realms. And for a time, the Light realm had been losing until he had started to set things right. Chosen by destiny, he was determined to save both realms. But due to bad luck and a horrible twist of fate, he was now lost in an unknown land, powerless and alone.

"This is getting complicating…" Finik the crocodile muttered, shaking its head. "So you're really a man?"

"Yes." The wolf started to walk out of the cage, taking slow careful steps on wobbly legs. The short links clinked as he padded onto the green grass of the fenced-up pen. He looked around, seeing a house and a barn and a vast expanse of trees that stretched almost all around the area. Birds were singing a chorus within the tall branches, their songs merry and joyful. Beyond the treetops were the rocky crags of mountains, brownish-gray and steep. He carefully approached the wiry fence where all the animals stood watching. "Do you believe my words true?"

"A man and a wolf and a wielder of a sword. What is there not to believe?" the striped cat quipped as she peered down at the wolf from her high perch.

"I believe him, Nene," the mare said shyly, scraping a hole in the grass again. "I… I think we should help him…"

The wolf perked up, feeling a small sense of hope.

"And how are we supposed to do that, Mula?" Nene the cat questioned, looking down at her hoofed companion. "We can't let the pup go. The gate is locked and the mistress would be none too happy about his escape even if he manages to."

"No, not help him escape… I-I was thinking…" Mula looked between her companions before her dark eyes settled on the wolf, "If it was magic that turned him into a beast then maybe magic could turn him back. The mistress and her mate know magic."

The wolf's ears twitched at the word 'magic'. "They do? What sort of magic?"

"All sorts," Arber vaguely replied. "The humans have very many different spells that I do not know where to begin, Dragonfly."

If he had eyebrows, the wolf would have raised one in question. "Did you just call me–"

"Dragonfly? Yes. That is your new name." The elephant's dark eyes gleamed with a hint of mischievousness.

The smaller beast grunted, not amused. "I have no need for a new name. I already have one. It is Link."

"Is it now? Your human name?"

"Wolf or human. It is the same."

Nene snorted and flicked her tail. "Not here, you are not, pup. The little one has named you Dragonfly and you will be referred to as such."

Link grunted again, highly annoyed. "That is a ridiculous name."

"Human young are just as ridiculous," remarked the grinning one-humped animal whose name Link had yet to learn.

The wolf decided to ignore the issue for now and returned to the previous matter. "Does your mistress have the power to transform me back?"

"For certain, I do not know," Arber truthfully answered with a slight shake of his great head. "Transformation is one type of magic she is capable of. However, it only changes her form into another."

Link's blue eyes widened. "A shape-shifter?" As a young boy, he had listened to stories and fables where men would turn into beasts and trees on a whim. Until he had first experienced the realm of Twilight, he didn't believe transforming into another living being could be true.

"I heard it is the most basic of spells," Mula piped in.

"You look surprised," noted the elephant. "Is the ability to transform by will uncommon from where you hail from?"

Uncommon? No, it was _unheard_ of. In Hyrule, only a few were skilled in the powerful arts of magic and even then the ability to take on the form of another creature has never been done before. _Unless you were cursed by Twilight… _"Again, I must ask: _Where_ exactly am I? Ordon, Kakariko, Death Mountain, Lake Hylia, Hyrule… please tell me you have heard of these names…"

All he got were blank and clueless faces. He drooped his head and hopelessly sighed. He must truly be in another country then. How far away from the Kingdom of Hyrule, he was afraid to know.

"Sorry, pup," the orange and black cat was first to say, "none of those names ring a bell. You're in Magnolia Town if that helps."

_No help at all, _Link wanted to retort but held his tongue. There was no point in being rude to the animals who were trying to help him. "And where is this town located? In what kingdom or country?"

The one-humped beast pursed his loose lips together. "Hmm, it's Desierto, wasn't it?"

"Veneer, that is where _you_ came from," Nene replied, giving the sandy-coloured animal a sullen look.

"Oh, right." Veneer laughed his goat-like laugh. "That was so long ago but I can still remember the name of my birthplace."

"The Kingdom of Fiore is what I believe this country is called," the mare answered the wolf, nodding. She leaned against the chain-linked fence and lowered her head down to his level when she saw Link's bewildered reaction. "I'm sorry… That isn't what you wanted to hear, is it?"

"I am lost… Utterly, utterly lost," the wolf murmured in defeat.

"How did you end up in Fiore without knowing?" croaked the crocodile, almost demanding.

Link craned his head to the clear blue sky above, squinting against the glare of the sun. "I fell… from up there…"

"Are you saying you sprouted wings and flew?" muttered the cat in disbelief.

The wolf looked at each animal and reiterated, "I fell into the endless sky in the Twilight Realm and somehow landed in your kingdom. That is how I do not know. I must have been transported here when I passed through the boundary between Light and Twilight." He was met with more cluelessness and confusion.

"All right… You've convinced me you're not a normal wolf anymore…" Finik grumbled, dropping his long, toothy snout onto the grass as if holding up his head was exhausting. "I don't get what you're saying at all…"

Arber curled his nose and tapped his forehead in his thinking posture. "Indeed. This is becoming very confusing. It is like you are from another world, Link."

"Another world…" The wolf could almost agree with that.

"Our mistress may be able to help you but conveying your problem to her will be a challenge."

"Can she not communicate with animals? I thought she could shape-shift."

Arber closed his eyes and snorted through his long nose, blowing a mighty wind that stirred the grass below him. "I have said she can change her form but she does not actually use it often. However, even when she does become a beast, she cannot understand our words like you can. That is why I was suspicious of you being an actual man. No magical human can understand our words when they wear the skin of animals." He opened his eyes and met the wolf's stare. "You are most intriguing, Link. I would like to help you but there is very little I can do. Trust in our mistress. There is no doubt that she will aid you when she learns of your dilemma."

The wolf nodded, feeling a little better knowing he wasn't stuck on his own looking for answers like when he first found himself within the forest of Vespera. He politely bowed his head at the great gray beast and the other animals, grateful to have their help. "Any idea on how to tell your mistress my story?" he questioned.

Veneer peeled back his saggy lips and grinned. "If any of us could read and write in the human language, we'd provide a nice letter. Too bad neither of us can. I can't even hold a pencil."

"You are the very least helpful," Nene growled, rolling her green eyes in an amusing human-like gesture. "Our mistress is good at understanding our problems, pup. She knows when we're sick or 'feeling blue' - whatever that means. It's like she can read our minds."

Mula nodded in agreement, a smile reflecting in her dark eyes. "She is very caring. I'm sure she can figure out your problem in no time. And I think 'feeling blue' means you're sad." She whispered the last part to her feline friend.

Link internally smiled.

"How about I bring her, Link?" Arber asked, glancing towards the house across the small field of grass. "She is very excited to meet you."

Before the wolf could reply, the elephant raised his nose and made a loud blaring sound that reminded Link of a trumpet. He cringed from the volume and was silently thankful the noise didn't last very long.

Not before long, the yellow back door of the house opened and a very young girl and her mother exited the house, heading in the direction of the waiting animals. Link could almost make out the wide smiles adorning their faces.

The horse happily neighed and stomped her front legs. "Good luck with the mistress, Dragonfly. I know you will love her and her little one as much as we do!"

_My name is Link_, the wolf wanted to correct her but the little girl running towards them cut him off with her joyous squeals of "Dragonfly's awake, Momma! Hi, Dragonfly!" and wild waving.

There was sniggering coming from the other animals. All Link could do was mentally groan at the childish name given to him before anticipating his encounter with their beloved mistress. There were lots he wanted to tell her and he had absolutely no clue on how he was going to do that. He could only believe that she was the one to help him find his light and his way back home…

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading!


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